diff --git a/system/jlib/jerror.hpp b/system/jlib/jerror.hpp
index 1ab11623d89..264c33ed3a3 100644
--- a/system/jlib/jerror.hpp
+++ b/system/jlib/jerror.hpp
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 #define JLIBERR_InternalError                   6002
 #define JLIBERR_CppCompileError                 6003
 #define JLIBERR_UnexpectedValue                 6004
+#define JLIBERR_K8sServiceError                 6005
 
 //---- Text for all errors (make it easy to internationalise) ---------------------------
 
diff --git a/system/jlib/jmisc.cpp b/system/jlib/jmisc.cpp
index 994d691b1c2..6fa8e1f8e35 100644
--- a/system/jlib/jmisc.cpp
+++ b/system/jlib/jmisc.cpp
@@ -1084,17 +1084,17 @@ std::pair<std::string, unsigned> getDafileServiceFromConfig(const char *applicat
     VStringBuffer serviceXPath("services[@type='%s']", application);
     Owned<IPropertyTreeIterator> dafilesrvServices = getGlobalConfigSP()->getElements(serviceXPath);
     if (!dafilesrvServices->first())
-        throw makeStringException(-1, "dafilesrv service not defined");
+        throw makeStringExceptionV(JLIBERR_K8sServiceError, "dafilesrv service '%s' not defined or disabled", application);
     const IPropertyTree &dafilesrv = dafilesrvServices->query();
     if (!dafilesrv.getPropBool("@public"))
-        throw makeStringException(-1, "dafilesrv service has no public service defined");
+        throw makeStringExceptionV(JLIBERR_K8sServiceError, "dafilesrv service '%s' has no public service defined", application);
     StringBuffer dafilesrvName;
     dafilesrv.getProp("@name", dafilesrvName);
     auto externalService = getExternalService(dafilesrvName);
     if (externalService.first.empty())
-        throw makeStringExceptionV(-1, "dafilesrv '%s': external service not found", dafilesrvName.str());
+        throw makeStringExceptionV(JLIBERR_K8sServiceError, "dafilesrv service '%s' - external service '%s' not found", application, dafilesrvName.str());
     if (0 == externalService.second)
-        throw makeStringExceptionV(-1, "dafilesrv '%s': external service port not defined", dafilesrvName.str());
+        throw makeStringExceptionV(JLIBERR_K8sServiceError, "dafilesrv service '%s' - external service '%s' port not defined", application, dafilesrvName.str());
     return externalService;
 }